From the seething internal aftermath of the German Occupation to the stylish radicalism of the New Wave and the slick post-modern fantasies of today, French directors such as Melville, Becker, Godard, Truffaut, and Chabrol have adapted American crime movie conventions to create their own cinema of good and evil. Fully illustrated with stills from a wide selection of movies, French Film Noir also contains a complete filmography listing over 100 films.

Robin Buss writes for several newspapers and magazines. He has translated Jean Cocteau's The Art of Cinema for Marion Boyars. He lives in the UK.